It started as a grey and overcast day, but a riot of colour greeted the Queen as she began her Diamond Jubilee celebrations at the Epsom Derby on Saturday.

Cheers and whistles went up from the crowd as the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived at 1pm, both smiling broadly and waving to racegoers as they were driven down the course towards the Queen’s stand.

Making it very much a family day out, she was joined by the Duke of York and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent and Princess Alexandra, the Hon Lady Ogilvy.

The royal party were welcomed to the stands by applause and a rousing rendition of the National Anthem, led by Katherine Jenkins, the Welsh soprano, accompanied by the Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines Portsmouth.

The Queen, who has been a regular at Epsom over eight decades, wore a royal blue crepe wool coat over a white silk dress with a floral pattern, by the royal couturier Stewart Parvin, accessorised with a matching hat by Rachel Trevor-Morgan and the Queen Mary’s Russian Brooch.

The large square cut diamond and cabochon sapphire brooch, set in a scroll frame of diamonds, was given to Princess May of Teck by the Empress Feodorovna of Russia, Queen Mary’s sister, as a wedding present in 1893. The Queen inherited the brooch in 1953, the year of her Coronation.

Many racegoers had donned Union flag waistcoats, ties and hats for the day in the Queen’s honour. Not to be outdone, Princess Eugenie, her granddaughter, sported a Jubilee-themed manicure, with her nails painted red, white and blue in the design of the Union flag.

As the royal party made its way to watch the day’s racing from the royal box, the sun came out across Epsom, where a carnival atmosphere featured a fun fair and stilt-walkers dressed as guardsmen in scarlet tunics and imitation bearskins.

The Red Devils of the Parachute Regiment performed a spectacular aerobatic display, trailing red smoke and Union flags as they landed in front of the Queen’s stand shortly before the royal party arrived.

The Epsom crowds, many of whom held jubilee-themed picnics around the course, were also entertained by the winners of the Britain’s Got Talent television show, Ashleigh Butler and her dancing dog Pudsey, who performed in front of the grandstands.

Although the Queen did not have a runner at Epsom this year, she made her way to the winners’ enclosure twice to present the trophies for the Diamond Jubilee Coronation Cup, renamed this year in her honour, and the Investec Derby, which was won by the favourite Camelot.

Hoping for a winner elsewhere, at 3.10pm, the Queen is thought to have discreetly taken her place in front a television in the royal box to watch her filly, Set to Music, run at Haydock in Merseyside, but the horse was beaten into second place.

Notably absent from the royal party yesterday were the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry, who missed the first of four days of Diamond Jubilee celebrations due to their military commitments.

The Duke, an RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot, was undertaking flying exams for his captaincy which he is expected to achieve within weeks, while Prince Harry, an Apache helicopter pilot, was engaged in intensive training ahead of his likely deployment to Afghanistan later this year.

The Duke, who is known as Flight Lieutenant Wales, is hoping to earn the rank of captain, an ambition that has seen him significantly increase his flying hours and which saw him deployed to the Falkland Islands in February.

Their absence was in contrast to last year’s Epsom meet, where the newly-wed Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry joined the Queen to cheer on her Derby runner, Carlton House, which finished third.

Both the Duke and Prince Harry have recently signalled their firm commitment to their military careers, which they have described as taking precedence over official royal duties.

They will participate in the rest of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations today, tomorrow and on Tuesday.